Cuttack: A special Pocso court in Cuttack has sentenced a 21-year-old man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping a teenager last Jan.While pronouncing the judgement in an open court on June 29, P K Das, the presiding judge of the Pocso court, said, “After marshalling the evidence of the victim and other witnesses and on a thorough and microscopic scrutiny of the same, this court comes to the irresistible conclusion that the age of the victim was less than 16 years at the time of incident and she was kidnapped by the accused with the intent of raping her.”The trial court convicted him under Section 137(2)/87/65 of BNS and Section 6 of the Pocso Act, 2012. The court also fined him Rs 15,000 and if he fails to pay the amount, he will have to serve an additional one-and-a-half-years of rigorous imprisonment. The fine amount, if realised, shall be paid to the rape survivor as per law.The trial court also recommended the case of the victim to the district legal services authority (Cuttack) for giving a compensation of Rs 5 lakh as per Odisha Victim Compensation Scheme. “No term of months or years imposed on an offender can reconcile the agony suffered by the victim but then monetary compensation will at least provide some solace,” the judge added.The incident took place on Jan 28 at a village in Cuttack district. According to the complaint filed by the girl’s father on Jan 31, the convict took her to a nearby forest on his motorcycle around 7pm on Jan 28 and raped her there.He was arrested last year on Feb 3 and was out on bail since last Aug 23. He was taken into custody on June 27.
